Sports

NEW YORK (AP) - The NHL's collective bargaining talks are on hold until Friday.

Donald Fehr, the executive director of the NHL Players' Association, had originally said he was "optimistic" the union would table a counterproposal Thursday. Fehr could extend a counteroffer on Friday at the NHL's New York office.

The current agreement expires Sept. 15, when the league has said it will lock out the players if a new deal is not in place.

The two sides are at odds over hockey-related revenue. The league wants to knock down the players' percentage to 46. The players' share of HRR was 57 percent last season. Fehr said changes in how HRR is calculated would see the amount of money players give up to escrow increase "significantly." Under the NHL's proposal, the union said current contracts would not be paid in full.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman issued his second proposal to the NHLPA on Tuesday in New York, an offering he called "meaningful" and "significant." On Wednesday, the two sides met again, and broke the proposal down with several player representatives in attendance.

Fehr was accompanied Wednesday by NHLPA special consultant Mathieu Schneider, as well as Mike Komisarek (Toronto), Douglas Murray (San Jose), George Parros (Florida), Chris Phillips (Ottawa), Kevin Shattenkirk (St. Louis), Kevin Westgarth (Los Angeles), Craig Adams (Pittsburgh), Nick Bonino (Anaheim), B.J. Crombeen (Tampa Bay), Alex Goligoski (Dallas) and Ron Hainsey (Winnipeg).

The NHL regular season is slated to begin on Oct. 11.

    
WASHINGTON (AP) - Swingman Martell Webster has signed a free-agent contract with the Washington Wizards.
 
    
The Wizards announced the deal on Wednesday. He played with the Minnesota Timberwolves last season, averaging 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds.
 
    

The 6-foot-7 Webster is averaging 8.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in a seven-season NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers and Timberwolves. He has shot 37.4 percent on 3-pointers.
 
    
Webster was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2005 draft after leaving high school.

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - The Washington Redskins have released tight end Chris Cooley.

The 30-year-old Cooley has spent his entire eight-season NFL career with Washington. He has 428 career receptions, including three seasons of at least 70.

Injuries limited him to five games and eight receptions last season. The Redskins plan to use Fred Davis as their starting tight end.

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan says parting with the two-time Pro Bowl selection was "as tough as it gets."

  
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     NEW YORK (AP) - Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its players resumed Tuesday morning at the league offices, then took a slight break.
 
     Limiting the personnel at the bargaining table in the hope of making progress, only Donald Fehr, the director of the NHL Players' Association, and assistant Steve Fehr met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy Bill Daly. Traditionally, several players have joined in, but not this week as the end of the current CBA - Sept. 15 - draws near.
 
     Not long after the meeting started, however, Donald Fehr appeared outside the building, telling reporters talks had paused just for a bit.
 
     "I think the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances is go back (to our office). We've got constituents and so on," Fehr said. "And so we'll see you later on I'm sure."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Michael Vick is back practicing after injuring his ribs last week and Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg says he's "real close to 100 percent."

Vick returned to the field Sunday night for the Philadelphia's annual practice party at Lincoln Financial Field. He left last Monday night's game after taking a hard hit that left him with bruised ribs and didn't play in Friday's game at Cleveland.

"I thought he threw the ball last night just beautifully; threw it strong and aggressively," Mornhinweg said Monday. "So, I think he's ready to rock and roll. That's my point on that. I think he's ready to go."

Vick has taken just 12 snaps in two preseason games and isn't expected to play against the Jets on Thursday.

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - Jerry Grant, a race driver who made history by breaking 200 mph in an Indianapolis 500-style car, has died.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway says in a statement that Grand died Aug. 12 at age 77. Family friend Gary Bryson tells the Los Angeles Times (lat.ms/TZDCmt) that Grant died from liver failure and diabetes at a hospital in Orange, Calif.

Grant was in 10 Indy 500s in the 1960s and '70s. His best finish was seventh place.

His second-place finish behind Mark Donohue in 1972 was thrown out because he used gas from another driver's supply after pulling into Bobby Unser's pit. Grant's final 12 laps weren't counted and he fell to 12th place.

Three months later Grant set a record when his Indy-style car topped 200 mph at Ontario Motor Speedway.

UNDATED (AP) - Virginia coach Mike London says he will clarify the team's quarterback situation Monday.

Michael Rocco started all 13 games and led the Cavaliers to an 8-5 record and their first bowl game since 2007 last year. Rocco is the presumed starter, but London says Rocco, sophomore David Watford and Phillip Sims, who transferred from Alabama and is eligible, have been competing throughout practice. London says the coaches are "taking the time to do this right."

Virginia held a closed scrimmage Wednesday.

London says in the remaining practices, the coaching staff will "throw everything we can at them" and see what their limitations are before compiling the depth chart at the position. He also wants to talk to each quarterback.

He says competition for the team's kicking job also continues.

TORONTO (AP) - The NHL collective bargaining talks lasted only 90 minutes on Thursday.

It was the first full bargaining session of the week between the league and the NHL Players' Association after talks in Toronto were called off Wednesday afternoon following a private meeting between top league and union executives.

On Wednesday, Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly spent about two hours with players' association executive director Donald Fehr and his brother Steve Fehr, the union's No. 2 man.

Key economic issues were expected to be the main topic of conversation this week. The sides have put two different offers on the table and are still grappling with a wide financial gap.

The collective agreement is set to expire Sept. 15. The NHL says it will lock out the players if a new deal hasn't been reached.

     NEW YORK (AP) - Changes NFL owners wanted for injured reserve and the trade deadline have not been approved by the players' union, meaning the old rules probably will stay in place this season.
 
     In May, owners voted to tweak IR rules so teams could pick one player to come off injured reserve after Week 8. That player would have to be on the 53-man roster after the final preseason cuts.
 
     Currently, once a player goes on IR, he is out for the season.
 
     Owners also wanted to move the trade deadline back two weeks.
 
     But the collective bargaining agreement says the NFL Players Association must sign off on such changes, and league spokesman Greg Aiello says: "We have no agreement with the union at this time on making these changes."

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Former AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon of the Oakland Athletics has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for testosterone.

Major League Baseball made the announcement Wednesday, one week after All-Star game MVP Melky Cabrera of San Francisco was suspended 50 games for a positive test for the same substance.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - What a difference a year makes for Norfolk State football.

The Spartans won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for the first time last season after being picked to finish fifth, and coach Pete Adrian's team has been chosen to repeat in 2012.

Norfolk State returns eight starters on offense, and hopes either Nico Flores or Jake Basmagian at quarterback can keep feeding the ball to All-MEAC targets in wideout Xavier Boyce (68 catches in 2012) and tight end Joseph Hawkins.

Center Michael Kay, right tackle Blake Matthews and placekicker Everett Goldberg all were first-team all-league selections. Goldberg kicked six field goals last season, and had an FCS-best three of 50 yards or more.

Linebackers Terrence Pugh and Jamal Giddens anchor the defense, which has only four starters back.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Steelers have their nose tackles of the future in third-year man Steve McLendon and rookie Alameda Ta'amu.

The future, however, might be coming a little faster than expected.

Veteran Casey Hampton, already recovering from offseason knee surgery, said on Wednesday he's dealing with a left elbow issue. The 34-year-old Hampton says he expects to be back in time for the season-opener but is being brought along slowly after being activated from the physically unable to perform list last week.

McLendon has sparkled in Hampton's spot, recording a sack in the preseason opener against Philadelphia and added a pair of tackles and a quarterback pressure in a victory against Indianapolis last week.

Hampton says McLendon has only "scratched" the surface of his ability.

      PITTSBURGH (AP) - Ike Taylor getting his hands on a pass is nothing new. Catching one? Well, that is different.
 
     Taylor stepped in front of Andrew Luck's pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown in Pittsburgh's 26-24 preseason win over Indianapolis on Sunday night, just the second time in Taylor's career he's taken an interception to the end zone.
 
     The steady Taylor has been a fixture in the Steelers secondary for nearly a decade but has just 13 interceptions in 141 games. The plainspoken Taylor concedes he's dropped more picks than he can count through the years, one of the reasons he spent the offseason working on improving his hands.
 
     The Steelers had three INTs in all against the Colts, a good sign for a team that finished last in the NFL in takeaways last season.

    
BOSTON (AP) - Red Sox owner John Henry says no one at a meeting with players last month called for manager Bobby Valentine to be replaced.
 
    
Henry sent an email on Wednesday, one day after Yahoo! Sports reported that several players met with Henry and team president Larry Lucchino on July 27 in New York to complain about the manager's handling of the team.
 
    
Owner Tom Werner also was at the meeting, according to Henry, who said that no one who attended took the position that Valentine should be or needed to be replaced. The Red Sox are a disappointing 57-60 in Valentine's first season.
 
    
Henry said the overriding sentiment expressed by the players was that they felt responsible for their record.

    
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - Washington Redskins defensive tackle Chris Neild is out for the season with a knee injury.
 
    
Coach Mike Shanahan said Tuesday that Neild has a torn left ACL.
 
    
The second-year player was injured during Monday's practice. He had the knee wrapped and did some running after he was hurt, but he was unable to return.
 
    
Neild was a seventh-round draft pick out of West Virginia last year. He played in all 16 games last season and had two sacks.

 
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska football truly is a family affair for the Cottons.
 
    
Offensive line coach Barney Cotton played for the Cornhuskers in the 1970s. Ben and Sam, his oldest and youngest sons, are tight ends. Middle child Jake is an offensive lineman. That makes Nebraska the only FBS team this season to have three brothers on the roster.
 
    
Christine Cotton, Barney's wife and the players' mom, has had to alter her game-day apparel this year. She's been wearing a jersey with Ben's number (81) on the front and Jake's number (68) on the back. This year she'll add Sam's number (84) to the sleeves.
 
 Cynical fans have said the Cotton boys got their scholarships, in part, because their dad is on the staff. Barney says each son has proved deserving.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Shortstop Cesar Izturis has been claimed by the Washington Nationals off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Izturis, an NL All-Star and Gold Glove winner in 2004, is batting .235 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 57 games this season. He is making $875,000.

Washington also placed utility man Mark DeRosa on the 15-day disabled list because of a left abdominal strain, a move retroactive to Sunday, and designated left-hander Atahualpa Severino for assignment. The Nationals have 10 days to trade Severino, release him or send him outright to the minors.

    
LONDON (AP) - London's Metropolitan Police say an Olympics bus has hit and killed a bicyclist near the Olympic Park in east London, an accident that required authorities to halt bus transportation in and out of the park.
 
    
Police say the 30-year-old cyclist was pronounced dead Wednesday about 30 minutes after the 7:45 p.m. accident on Ruckholt Road in east London about 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) north of the Olympic Stadium.
 
    
Ambulance units including a helicopter-borne unit tried to save the man.
 
    
The police say no one aboard the bus was reported injured and nobody has been arrested. The police force has launched an investigation into what caused the collision.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Notre Dame linebacker Carlo Calabrese has entered into a pretrial diversion program that calls for a misdemeanor intimidation charge against him to be dismissed if he performs 20 hours of community service and isn't arrested again in the next year.

Calabrese was arrested May 3 after an off-campus party. Police said he became upset when quarterback Tommy Rees was arrested, ignored warnings to stay out of the street and twice told an officer, "My people will get you."

Calabrese, a 21-year-old senior, signed the agreement on July 25. The 20-year-old Rees pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor resisting law enforcement and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor.

Notre Dame has suspended Rees and Calabrese for the Sept. 1 season opener against Navy in Ireland.

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall had quite a season in 2010. He returned a fumble for a touchdown to beat Dallas in the opener, tied an NFL record with four interceptions at Chicago, and concluded the campaign by winning Most Valuable Player honors in the Pro Bowl.
 
    
Not bad.
 
    
Last season? Different story.
 
    
His three interceptions were fewer than he had in the 2010 game vs. Chicago alone. He didn't reach the end zone at all. And Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant victimized Hall with deep grabs on third-and-long for the decisive plays that dealt the Redskins two late defeats.
 
    
"D-Hall is a magnet for the public eye," fellow starting cornerback Josh Wilson said. "He gets a lot of criticism sometimes. But you've got to look at the big picture. There are a lot of coverages where we look like we may have gotten beat, but it's not our fault at all. He's doing a great job."